Hot enough for you?
Southern California is in the beginnings of an historic heat wave. Today it was 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles. In Burbank it wasn’t much cooler — especially after one of the air conditioning compressors powering my office chose today to go on the fritz. When the indoor temp hit an honest-to-God 97 degrees and I started to feel weak in the knees I announced, “We’re all going to Yogurtland!” And so the six of us in the office at the moment trooped down to get frozen yogurt and cool off. The frozen yogurt helped, but here’s the irony: It turned out that Yogurtland’s a.c. wasn’t working either. Before my no-fat frozen blueberry coolant had its desired effect on my insides, I was melting along with it. We finally returned to the office and found the a.c. restored and struggling to bring the temperature below 87.
My kids and I just returned from our nightly bicycle ride with the dog. (We ride bikes; she runs alongside. She still hasn’t learned how to pedal.) We passed my daughter’s school and read the temperature on the big sign outside: 96. At 8 o’clock in the evening. On the ride back I kept wondering why my bare foot kept getting splashed with water. Where was it coming from? Finally I figured it out: The wetness striking me was drops of saliva being flung from my dog’s panting tongue.
Tomorrow I’ll be in Colorado Springs, where the temperature is predicted to be a comparatively balmy 88 degrees. Thursday through Sunday I’ll be in Baltimore, DC, and Virginia, and then I’ll be in southern New Jersey for about 24 hours ’til Monday. I’ve been to all of those East Coast destinations before, and they strike me collectively as exemplars of the maxim that “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” Today I definitely felt there’s something to be said for “it’s the heat.” But I’ll save my final judgment until my return next Tuesday.